by Tonya Clark
“Why aren’t you letting me in? Aren’t you happy to see me?” She places her hand on my bare stomach, but I step away from her touch.
“Candice, I know we have been out a couple times, but that’s all it was. I’m sorry. Now if you will excuse me, I’m going back to bed.”
I go to shut the door and she stops it. “Do you have someone else in there with you?”
What right does she think she has to even ask me that question? From the look on her face, she is fully expecting me to answer it. I’m starting to lose my patience though.
“I can’t see why who I have or don’t have in my bed is your business.”
She pouts, and it takes everything in me not to yell, “Really?”
“Cameron, you know I love you.”
I roll my eyes. I must have had too much to drink the night I met this one. Either that or meeting Jayden has shown me what I want. “Candice, you don’t even know me. Look, again I’m sorry, but I’m going to ask you to leave now.”
I don’t wait for her to respond, I push the door closed, locking it just in case. I wait a minute, I wouldn’t put it past her to start ringing the doorbell all crazy again. When I hear a car door slam, I figure it is safe to say she has left. I hadn’t dated much, work kept me pretty busy, but I go and find the crazy one.
Walking back into the room, Jayden is still asleep. She must be exhausted to sleep through all of that, Candice hadn’t kept her voice down. I am relieved she hadn’t come out. Jayden is strong on the outside appearance but very insecure inside. She would ask questions, I would answer all of them, but she would play out all kinds of stuff in her head. There is no comparison between the two women, but convincing Jayden would be a chore I had a strong feeling. Ever since her father cheated on her mother, she thinks that is going to happen no matter who the man is.
I’m not one who normally likes lounging in bed, but looking at Jayden sleeping in my bed, all I want to do is climb back in and wrap my body around her. I quickly strip back out of my jeans and slide back in bed. Jayden stirs next to me, her eyes opening slightly. She has the sheet half on and half off. She is only wearing a tank top and underwear, so I have full view of one very nice leg.
“Hey, what time is it?” she asks in a very sexy, half asleep voice.
I crawl over her, claiming her lips in a good morning kiss. Her body instantly becomes awake. I can feel the heat from between her legs, and feel her nipples tighten against my chest. Her fingers go into my hair, tugging slightly, which makes me harder.
“It’s almost ten,” I finally answer her.
Her eyes go wide. “Are you kidding?”
I kiss a trail across her neck and then back up to her lips. “I’m thinking of something pretty sweet for breakfast.”
Her eyebrows shoot up, but she doesn’t move. I begin my journey to her sweetest spot. Her eyes never leave mine as I work my way down her body. Pulling her tank top up and exposing her breasts, I take turns sucking each one into my mouth. As I make my way further down, I slide her underwear down her legs. She kicks them off for me. She watches me with those sexy, half asleep eyes as I work my way down her body to the sweet heat in between her legs.
Keeping her eyes with mine, I lick her and watch as her eyes roll back and her back arches, pressing herself onto my tongue. Her fingers are in my hair, pulling. I about lose it right here watching her. I can feel her body tightening up, she is ready for her release. I think she is about to when she surprises me by pushing me away from her and quickly rolling us over so that she is straddling me. No longer looking half asleep, but fully awake, her hand now wraps around my base guiding me into her very wet, very ready body.
I sit up and Jayden wraps her legs around my waist. Her breasts beg for attention, I suck one begging nipple into my mouth. Her back arches, pushing me further into her, and her hands are back in my hair, pressing her breast further into my mouth. With my hands on her hips, guiding her hips as she rides me and my mouth working on her breast, it doesn’t take long for either of us to lose ourselves.
Chapter 22
Jayden
Since we enjoyed breakfast in bed, we decide to go out for lunch. Today is the only day we have to drive around and enjoy the day. Cameron wants to show me around. Tomorrow, he has to work most of the day with the inspectors and packing up the rest of the house. Cameron is hoping to be on the road back to Washington pretty early Tuesday morning.
We have just sat down and ordered when his phone goes off once again, all morning it has been going off. I notice that he looks at it and then roll his eyes and presses ignore. Then shortly after, he gets a text message and he says something under his breath. He never says who they are from and I don’t ask, but it is driving me crazy.
We have just received our food when his phone rings again. “Cameron, answer it. Ignoring it isn’t working.”
“Fine, I’ll be right back.” He scoots out of the booth. I hear him answer it as he walks out the front door.
I don’t expect him to leave to answer it, now I am even more curious about who it is. He doesn’t want me to know, that is for sure. When he sits back down, I can tell he is pissed. I am trying very hard to seem like I’m not bothered but it is difficult.
“Everything all right?” I finally ask after some time of eating in silence.
Cameron just nods. He is shutting me out again.
“Are you sure you don’t want to talk about it? You seem pretty bothered by who or whatever it was,” I try one more time.
Cameron rolls his eyes and takes a deep breath, but then his attention goes back to his plate of food that he really hasn’t touched. I know that look, I have seen it a couple times. Usually each of those times had him telling me to mind my own business and yelling at me, and then me leaving, pissed. We are in Texas, I can’t just drive home.
“Never mind, forget I asked,” I tell him before he yells or snaps.
Another ten minutes or so goes by and still nothing, I just sit here eating my fries waiting for him to explode. This is crazy, why do I have to walk on glass because he is pissed off at someone else? He either needs to get over it or talk about it, but I’m not going to get the silent treatment from him all day long. He told me he needs some time to think things through before he talks things out. I thought I had given him that time, I mean what could be that bad? I am about to tell him all of that, too, when he finally speaks.
“Look, Jayden, I’m sorry. I think I’m just stressed about tomorrow. I didn’t mean to get upset and ruin our afternoon.”
“Are all those calls and texts about tomorrow?” I ask, pretty sure they have nothing to do with the inspection. If they would have been from Steve, I don’t think he would have ignored them. This is his excuse so that he doesn’t need to talk about what is really the problem.
He shakes his head. “No, those are another problem that isn’t taking a hint.”
Well, if that didn’t scream another woman then I don’t know what does. My heart leaps into my throat for a second. Then I tell myself to relax. Cameron said I had to stop comparing our relationship to my parents’ and he is right. Not every man is a jerk like my father.
Cameron finally takes a bite of his hamburger. “Let’s just forget about that and I’ll try to relax about tomorrow so that we can enjoy the rest of the day.”
So, I either push this issue and risk a really bad day, or let it go. Trust that if it’s something that I need to know about, he will tell me. In other words, pick my battle. Cameron has really never given me a reason to not trust him, even if it has to do with another woman. I need to let this go and trust him.
“So, what were your plans for the rest of the day?” I ask. I watch as his shoulders relax a little when he realizes I am letting it go.
****
The day hasn’t been bad. We drove around, and he showed me more of the town. We went by the housing track that he has been working on down here and we went out for dinner. I could tell that Cameron wasn’t
himself though. He had turned his phone down so that I couldn’t hear it when it went off. I saw him checking it every so often, I think more out of making sure Jacob didn’t text needing something than any other reason. I didn’t bring it up though. I needed to trust him.
When we pull back up into the driveway of Cameron’s, I see someone sitting on the porch. It is a woman, all I can make out is she has red hair. Cameron throws the truck into park, cursing a whole string of words. I am about to ask who she is, but Cameron jumps out of the truck before I can, slamming his door shut.
Once again, I am left sitting alone in a vehicle. I watch as he goes up onto the porch talking to the woman. She has her hands all over him and all the while he is trying to keep her from touching him. Now I am getting pissed, why am I sitting here? This lady thinks she can touch my boyfriend? She has another thing coming. Getting out of the truck, I walk up to the house getting ready to give this woman a piece of my mind if she touches Cameron once again.
“Candice, you need to listen to me.”
I stop on the step. Candice! I recognize the name right away. This is the woman who Cameron was talking to that day after he first kissed me.
“Is everything all right?” I ask, as I walk up to stand next to Cameron. I need to trust Cameron when he told me nothing was going on between them, but it is hard at the moment. I go to grab his hand, kind of claim my status as his girlfriend I guess you could say, but he moves away from my touch. My heart leaps into my throat.
“This has nothing to do with you, you don’t need to include yourself,” the redheaded woman in front of me spits out.
“Who are you?” I ask, standing my ground.
“I’m his girlfriend,” she answers, arms crossed over her chest. She looks at me like she can’t believe I asked her such a question.
I look up at Cameron, he is rubbing his forehead. I wait for him to say something, but he doesn’t. This woman in front of me looks at me like she is waiting for me to get the hint and walk away. I stand there waiting for Cameron to say something to clear everything up, but no, he just stands there looking down at the ground. Am I missing something here?
“Cameron?” I ask, looking at him, waiting for him to say something.
“Jayden, just go inside.” He sounds tired.
I don’t care. Did he just ask me to go inside? “Excuse me?”
“Jayden, please, let me deal with this,” he points over at Candice, “Then I’ll deal with this,” he points between him and me.
Deal with this? Is he serious, he had to deal with me? Screw him. I’ll leave him to deal with Candice. I am pretty sure Candice isn’t his girlfriend, but I am done with him. I walk into the house, pulling my phone out of my pocket and calling the first cab company that is listed on the search I found. Cameron won’t have to worry about dealing with me next. No matter how much I am falling for him, I am done having him shut me out. Tonight, is the worst though. He pushed me aside and for another woman. This woman might not mean anything to him, but that almost makes it worse.
I quickly grab all my stuff, putting everything in my bag as fast as I can. I quickly look up flights, finding one leaving tonight in a couple of hours. I feel the tears burn my eyes, but I’m not going to cry. I won’t walk in front of that woman and give her the satisfaction of knowing I am upset because of her.
One last quick look around, I make sure I have grabbed everything. As I am walking back out to the living room, I hear the horn outside letting me know the cab is here already. I hate that I have to walk past the two of them outside to leave, but I’m not going to hide in here until Candice leaves and then have to listen to Cameron yell at me.
Cameron and Candice are both still on the porch when I walk back out. Cameron has a puzzled expression on his face as he looks over at the cab pulled in front of his house. When his eyes swing to me coming out the front door, I know the exact moment when he realizes what is going on.
He grabs my arm as I walk in between the two of them. “Where the hell are you going?”
I look between him and Candice and then back up at him. I can see it in his eyes he has read the situation wrong. He thinks I am leaving because I believe this woman is more to him. He doesn’t even think for a second it is because of how he treated me.
“Jayden, this isn’t what you think it is.” He confirms what I believe he thinks is the reason why I am leaving.
The tears burn once again. I think it almost hurts worse to know that he hasn’t figured it out. That his words and the way he talked to me was wrong. I’m not a child, I’m his girlfriend.
“Believe it or not, I’m not upset about Candice. I can see desperation when it’s pouring out of someone like it is her.”
I hear the sharp intake of breath from Candice, but I don’t care. I want to turn to her and yell at her, “Yes, I called you desperate,” but I control myself.
“Jayden, don’t do this right now, just go back into the house.”
Why do I always feel like a child being scolded when Cameron is mad at me? “You know what, Cameron? You need to finish up with all your loose ends and business here. I’m going home.”
“Jay, don’t do this right now,” he repeats again.
Calling me Jay almost has me turning back around and waiting for him inside. I take a deep breath, if I give in now this will never change.
“You know what, deal with things here and maybe once you get back, we can talk but right now I need to go home.”
I think what hurts more than anything is he doesn’t fight harder. I’m not mad, just hurt. I quickly walk down to the cab and don’t look back. I don’t want to let Cameron or Candice see me cry. There is no holding back the tears this time.
Once on the plane, and I realize Cameron isn’t going to stop me, I break down. I wait to see him come running into the airport, stopping me at the boarding area, something. I need to go, I need him to let me go, but I want him to care enough to come after me and stop me. I think I’m a complete mess. Maybe the whole problem isn’t Cameron, but me as well. Cameron’s problem is communication, mine is reacting without thinking. I jump instead of sitting down and thinking. That is one of the things that keeps me from calling Charliee to come and pick me up at the airport. I sit here and actually think about it. If I call her, she will instantly take my side and get very mad at Cameron. I’m not sure if I want that. I’m not even going to let her know I am home early. I don’t want her mad at Cameron. Even leaving him, I can’t help but want to protect him.
Chapter 23
Cameron
“It’s all done. Papers are signed, inspection over, out of our hands now. Damn, that feels good.” Steve sits back in his office chair and smiles.
I feel a huge weight lifted from my shoulders. I know Steve can handle everything here. He could have handled the inspection without me, but I started all of this with him, I wanted to make sure I was with him to finish it. That was the only thing that kept me here last night after Jayden left. I wanted to run after her, go to the airport and stop here, fly out and go back to Washington, but I had other responsibilities I had to think of.
“Hey, why don’t we take the ladies out tonight to celebrate?” Steve suggests, having no idea of last night’s mess.
“I have a couple greater stories I thought about to tell Jayden I think she would appreciate hearing,” he adds.
“You, my friend, will have to wait and tell those stories at another time.” That’s if there is another time, I think to myself.
“You two already have plans to celebrate tonight?” he asks, raising his eyebrows up at me with that “I know how you guys plan to celebrate” look.
“No, Jayden went home last night.”
“Wasn’t she supposed to drive back with you?” Steve asks, confused.
I nod, playing with a paperclip on the desk.
“Do you want to talk about it?”
“Not really,” I state plainly.
“All ri
ght, well then how about you and I head out and grab a final beer?”
“Steve, you act like we aren’t going to see each other again. We’ll be talking so much you are going to throw your phone when you see my name pop up on the screen.”
“Probably, but since we saw each other every day here, talking on the phone shouldn’t be too bad. Do you want to go for that beer or not?”
I hate saying no, but I am planning on pulling out tonight instead of in the morning. I need to get home and straighten things out with Jayden. “Actually, Steve, I was thinking about starting out tonight, so I’ll have to take a rain check on that beer until the next time I’m here.”
Steve stares at me from across the desk for a moment. I’m not fooling him, he knows why I am in a hurry to leave tonight. I’ve already been up all night. I watched the taxi pull away with Jayden and I lost my temper altogether. I had been trying real hard with Candice to get her to understand there wasn’t and never would be anything between us, but she wasn’t letting up. After Jayden pulled away, I came unglued. I am now pissed at Candice, Jayden, and myself. I was trying to handle the whole situation without hurting anyone, but I obviously didn’t do it right. I think I may have screwed everything up completely with Jayden this time. I saw the look in her eyes, it was that look that kept me from sleeping all night.
“Cameron! Hey, are you alright?” Steve breaks through my thoughts.
“Sorry, I didn’t get much sleep last night. I think between that and everything today, I’m just tired.”
“And you think driving tonight is a good idea? Why don’t you get some rest tonight and pull out early in the morning? You can’t make things better if you don’t make it to Washington alive.”
The dad side of Steve is coming out, I smile. “I won’t sleep anyway.”
“I was going to let it drop but now I can’t. What’s going on with Jayden? Obviously, she didn’t leave on a good note last night.”
Pulling the paperclip apart, I sit quiet for a moment. No, she didn’t leave happy, but I hold on to the part where she said we could talk when I got back to Washington. That is the only thing giving me any kind of hope that I didn’t completely mess it all up. I look up at Steve, who is reclined back in the office chair just waiting for me to answer.